Snow-plow for railroads



s. RICHARDS. Car-Track Clearer.-

Patented. May 13, 1856.

SAMUEL RICHARDS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SNOW-PLOW FOR RAILROADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,886, dated May 13, 1856; Reissued July 9, 1867,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL RICHARDS, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement for Removing Snow from Railroad-Tracks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of my improvement.

Snow-plows heretofore used for removing snow from rail-road tracks have been designed and constructed with a view to press the snow directly from the tracks in a lateral direction. \Vith this view they have been generally constructed of two vertical curved shares or surfaces commencing at or very near to'the point of the snow-plow and immediately diverging laterally. In the use of such plows it has been found that in deep snows the snow becomes wedged or packed together at the sides of the track, making it very difficult for the plow and the cars to force their way through. By such plows moreover the snow is only temporarily pressed away at the sides and after the plow has passed a considerable portion falls back on to the track again.

The nature of my improvement consists in constructing the snow plow of a simple inclined plane of a width a little greater than the track and commencing very close to the surface of the rails and rising at a gradual angle for some distance without any lateral projecting surfaces until the inclined plane has reached to the depth of the snow. Then I place two vertical surfaces curving laterally, my object being by the action of the simple inclined plane or wedge in the first instance to raise up the snow entirely, and then to press off the snow so elevated on to the top of the surrounding snow, thereby avoiding the lateral packing and jamming of the snow as with the old plows, and the return of the snow after it has once been removed.

My improved snow cleaner occupies a position in front of the locomotive.

C C and D D are two ordinary four wheel trucks which are attached by bolsters to a lower frame or support E E, in such a manner as to allow the trucks to pass freely around curves in the manner in which locomotive and car trucks are now made to swivel.

A B is an inclined plane made of metal or wood and attached permanently to the lower piece E E. The portion A is made to project in front of the truck C C. The plane A B rises from the point A gradually, say at an angle of about 20 to 30 (where the snows are light this plane might rise more rapidly). This plane A B is of uniform level transversely as far as the vertical piece F. This piece F is so constructed as to present two vertical surfaces meeting at the point and curving laterally outward, and rising from 1 to 3 feet proportioned to the usual depth of the snow in the section of country where this snow clearer is used. The entire piece F is made to slide up and down along the plane A B, by means of a plate with a flange or rim fitting over the edges of A B, or by means of projections on the under side of F fitting into slots in the upper surface of A B. This sliding piece F is to be slid up or down until the point f is placed just at the height of the upper surface of the surrounding snow. The front vertical surfaces of F have a double curvature, curving slightly inward, as they rise up, so as the more easily to deliver the snow raised from the track onto the surface of the surrounding snow. hen the piece F has been adjusted in the proper posit-ion for the depth of the snow it can be secured there by means of pins or bolts as shown in the drawing.

The interior of the space between E E and A B can be occupied with advantage by a series of circulating hot water or steam pipes or by a boiler or furnace for the purpose of keeping the surface of the plane A B warm and diminishing the adhesion of the snow to the surface of A B.

The advantage of my improved track clearer above described is that the snow is first raised above and then deposited upon the surface of the surrounding snow instead of being pressed laterally away at the sides of the track so as to pack and jam there; hence the resistance to the advance of the plow is much diminished, and a train can force a passage through deeper snows and with more rapidity than with any common form of lateral action snow plows.

When there is a crust of ice on top of the snow, too thin or sharp vertical metallic plates 9 and 9 may be attached to the sides of the plow in front for the purpose of cutting through the ice or crust on top of the snow. The tops of the plates or cutters g and g are to be just high enough to reach the surface of the snow and cut through any crust of ice formed there. My improved arrangement may be placed on a single truck or immediately in front of the locomotive. The space between E ,E and A B may be occupied by a heating apparatus as above described or this heating apparatus may be omitted; or the plate A B may be made of double plates of metal and steam or hot Water made to circulate between these plates.

Having thus described my improvement What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The construction of a snow clearer of a simple rising inclined plane A B in combination With the curved pieces at F so arranged that the snoW shall be gradually raised at or near to the surface of the surrounding snoW and then discharged over on the top of it substantially as above described.

2. I claim the employment of a series of pipes or other heating apparatus in the interior of a snow cleaner for the purpose of diminishing the adhesion of the snow to the upper surface of the cleaner.

SAMUEL RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. B. JENKINS, I. E. SHAW.

[FIRST PRINTED 1912.] 

